Fires of hell (English)
by Emz-Stern
Summary: Harry Dresden have a secret that nobody knows, he have a daughter. Now when Harry is dead it is up to his daughter, Jill to protect Chicago from the magical and supernatural. When sudden arsons hits Chicago Jill becomes suspicious. What looks like a work of a mad pyromaniac suddenly turns into Jills worst nightmare.
1. Prologue

Fires of hell

Have you ever thought about how it would feel like to be dragged down to hell and then spit out again? Like death itself chewed on you and decided it did not like the taste? To all of you who don't have I can tell, it's a living hell. My first experience of magic and supernatural was like that.

To those who don't know, I'm Jill. Jill Dresden. Yes, I am the daughter of Harry Dresden, the wizard. Some of you might think that magic doesn't exist but you are wrong, very wrong. Magic exists and it can get a guy killed. Believe me, there is a lot of magic and paranormal thing just here in Chicago, and in the rest of the world for that matter.

How has my life been affected by this then? In brief, my mother left us when I was born. It was at that time my father, Harry Dresden, decided to reveal the truth about himself, about his job. My mother refused to believe him and that's why she left. Shortly after that my father died on his way home from a finished case. He got shot by a psychopathic stranger.

It's funny how a powerful wizard with all his power and might, so easily can get erased from this world by a simple bullet. I got lucky that night because my father had visit that same night from Susan, an old girlfriend of his.

When my father never returned she got suspicious and shortly after that the news about my dad came out. When Susan heard it she decided to adopt me. Was it not for Susan I probably would have been erased from this world, too.

Even though she saved my life I still can't be grateful for it. I'm happy to be alive, but I and Susan have never liked each other very well. At first it didn't show that much but as older I got the colder Susan treated me. The day when I finally moved out was a relief for us both.

After that everything looked like it would go really well and I would have normal life. I became a popular journalist at one of the bigger magazines in Chicago. Everyone believed, even I started to believe, that I would soon start a magazine on my own. It seemed to go so well and I would success but that was until the fire accident occurred.

The whole thing started in the west part of Chicago, in some small neighborhood where a house suddenly catched fire. Nobody understood what had happened because there had been no sign of fire. It actually had been raining the whole day. Because of that there was no one that though it had been an accident. I was sent there to investigate and it was then I realized who I truly was.

Susan had, under those years I lived with her, told me what a fool my father was and how ridiculous his wizardly tricks were. She told me a lot of times what a freak my dad was but I never believed her. I was proud of my father and though he was the best police ever. Back then I did not believe for a second that my father was an actual wizard with real magic. When I arrived at the scene of the accident it turned out that I been wrong about my father. What looked like the perfect story in the newspaper turned into a race against the clock and my biggest challenge ever. That very accident turned my life upside down and I was forced to reconsider what is possible and what is not.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

* * *

I sat by my desk and wrote eagerly. It wasn't a very great article but I wanted to finish it as fast as possible. I had an appointment this afternoon and I didn't want to be late for it, as usual. Suddenly a short, strict man in a grey costume arrived at my office.

"Miss Dresden? I got news for you".

With an unhappy sigh a stopped writing and looked straight into a pair of ice-blue eyes.

"What is it now Jerry? Do you have more articles for me? Or more ridiculous rumors?"

Jerry just looked at me, as if he thought that I was not worthy an answer. Even though he was my partner we didn't seem to get along very well. By the judge of his look, Jerry was not very happy to have to tell me whatever that was.

"The director wants you to check out the latest arson here in Chicago." He averted his eyes from me, it was clear that he did not want me to check it out. He wanted to check it out himself. I smiled, a sweet feeling of triumph went through me. Finally I would get a real article to write!

"So, an arson! That's something! Where did this happen then?" I asked, barely capable of hiding my excitement.

Jerry clenched his jaws bitterly when he handed me a document. "In a neighborhood in south Chicago." For a moment it looked like Jerry was about to say something else but stayed quiet as he turned and walked out from my office. I looked curious at the document, eager to start write about it but I didn't. I had more articles to write and I did not want to be late for my appointment.

The clock hit half past two when I finally sent in the last article. It was time to go home. I got approximately one hour before my guest would arrive. I rose up from my chair and grasped for my papers. My office can only be described with one word, _chaos_. It was paper and documents all over the place. Empty cups were standing here and there. Some might find it hard to find anything in this mess but I like it. I have some kind of structure within the mess and I know exactly where I have my things.

When I finally got out from the building I looked at my wristwatch. Hells bells! The clock was nearly half past three! I only had half an hour to get ready for my appointment! I rushed down the street, my apartment lied only a few blocks away. I got my key from my purse as I reached the door to my apartment. I had to rush if I would make. I mustn't be late, not again. I had promised to be there in time and I was not person who took promises lightly. When I was about to enter my apartment I suddenly felt a cold shiver go down through my spine. It felt like I was being watched but when I turned around there was no one there.*Weird* I though and then I entered my apartment. My apartment was in the same condition as my office so I had to clean it up, fast. Even though my guest, that was about to arrive in any minute, had known me since childhood I did not like the thought of showing her my apartment as messy as it was now. After the cleaning I went to the shower, the clock ticking away incredible fast. Standing in there I once again felt the ice-cold feeling about being watched. I shivered despite the hot water from the shower. *Silly me, it's just an illusion* as I thought so there was a knock on my door. I cursed quiet as a sprinted out from the shower and grabbed my clothes. How typical! How perfectly typical it was for me being late!

"Hi Jill." It was the first thing for me to hear when I opened the door. I had barely managed to get dressed. In front of me was a long, slim girl with intense, dark hair, glowing red. She had a little smirk on her lips, and I smiled. That was for sure the Mary I remembered!

"Long time no see Mary! Where have you been all the time?"

Mary laughed a bit,

"No that's for sure! And I see that you finally start to learn to be in time!"

I just mumble quietly about how close it had been.

"Come in, you don't plan to stay out there all the time, do you?" I laughed a little and then continued, "I haven't started with the dinner yet though".

"Why am I not surprised?" Mary stepped inside with a big smile. "You're hopples, aren't you?"

"Hey, nobody is perfect! But that's enough about me. I haven't seen you in months! Where have you been all the time? What are you doing now days?"

Mary smiled as she answered,

"It's going pretty well for me I would say. Right now I'm working on some presentations about old Greece history."

I nodded, "Interesting".

After an hour of small talk I went to the kitchen to prepare the dinner. I realized that I probably should have done that sooner but I got interrupted by the creepy, ice-cold feeling again. *Stupid! Of course you are being watched, your old friend is here, what do you think!* I told myself but somehow I wasn't so sure about that. I prepared the meal in silence but no matter how I tried I couldn't get rid of that stupid feeling. Mary must have notice my anxiety because she frowned at me.

"Something wrong Jill? You seem so… quiet"

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just thinking about the new arson. I got to check it out." It wasn't completely a lie. I was excited about checking it out but right my mind was occupied by other things.

The rest of the dinner went really well and soon I started to relax, forgetting about the weird feeling and my anxiety. Then Mary all of sudden straighten in her chair, looking intense at me. I couldn't help myself but ask,

"What's wrong?" All of the anxiety and paranoia come back to me.

Mary sighed and looked unsecure. She averted her eyes from me, strange.

"I have a problem, sort of and I don't know what to do about it."

I frowned, "A problem? What kind of problem?" I straightened and looked at my friend who actually looked afraid.* I wonder what could have scared her like that* I thought, getting a bad feeling about this.

"I don't know where to start, it have been like this for some time now. I can't go to the police, they would think that I'm crazy."

"Why?" was my first question. Why was Mary acting so… strange? Mary has always been the "straight to the point" type, it wasn't like her to be so puzzling.

"You know, you can trust me Mary, I'm your friend and I will help you as much as I can. But I can't do that unless you tell me what your problem is."

Mary looked around and gulped. She seemed to be afraid that someone was watching her. The sheer though made my blood freeze. Had she the same feeling about being watch as I had?

Then she suddenly manage to speak,

"It started a month ago when weird _things_ started to happen. It could be small accidents such as loosing things or destroying them. In the beginning I didn't care about that much but then I got _worse_. I suddenly started to wake up in the middle of the night, feeling that someone or _something_ was in my house." Mary's voice was just a whisper, now.

"How can you be so sure about that and what you mean with _something_?" I asked, as I started to regret that ever asked Mary to explain.

"First of my house was a real mess when I woke up in the morning. Doors, closets and boxes where all open when I woke up. Papers were spread all over the place, you know, that kind of stuff. The second thing was the footprints. Black, muddy footprints were spread on the floor and it's now it starts to become eerie. The footprints didn't look like they were made of humans. They were simply too big and too… strange for that. To be honest, I don't know how to describe it." Marry gulped one more time and looked around nervously. I started to be real worried, who or what was lurking around in Mary's house?

"Shortly thereafter I started to retrieve strange letters" Mary continued. "I couldn't read them though."

"Do you have any clue who could have sent those letters to you and why?" I asked.

"No, I have no idea. The whole thing is so weird and creepy that I don't know what to do. The police would never believe me anyway. They would just say I'm hallucinating or something like that"

"Mary," I interrupted, "You're not crazy and I don't think that you're hallucinating either. I think you have gotten into something very strange. I will do everything I can to help you." I tried to be calm, though it was hard since Mary's story hade scared the hell out of me. Despite my fear I still wanted to make one last question. There was one last thing that still bothered me.

"Just one last question, how did the letters look like? Do you have any of them with you?" To my big surprise, Mary look almost relieved that I asked about it.

"Yes, actually I brought one of them with me" she said and handed me an old envelope. I took it and opened it carefully. What occurred on the paper made the inside of me scream of a terrible danger.


End file.
